THE WORLD ATLAS

Chapter · Early Middle Ages

Kingdoms After Rome

The world in 500

By 500 CE the Western Roman Empire is gone. Its last emperor was deposed in 476, and Germanic kings now rule its lands: Theodoric the Ostrogoth governs Italy from Ravenna, Clovis has united the Franks in Gaul, the Visigoths hold Spain and southern France, and the Vandals rule North Africa from Carthage.

The Eastern Roman Empire, under Anastasius I, remains rich and powerful, facing a revived Sasanian Persia under Kavad I. Hunnic peoples, the Hephthalites and Alchon Huns, are battering Persia's east and breaking the Gupta Empire in India. China is still divided: the Northern Wei, Xianbei steppe rulers who have adopted Chinese ways, hold the north from their new capital Luoyang, while short-lived dynasties rule the south. In Mesoamerica, Teotihuacan is in its final century and the Maya city of Tikal and the Kaan (Snake) kingdom, later ruled from Calakmul, are locked in rivalry. Across the world most people still live as farmers in villages, and Christianity, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism are the great organized faiths.

Open the map in 500

The great powers

Region by region

Southern Africa

Bantu-speaking farming communities now stretch from the Great Lakes to the eastern coast of South Africa, making pottery, smelting iron and keeping cattle. Khoisan foragers and herders hold the Kalahari and the western Cape. Austronesian settlers from Borneo are beginning to settle Madagascar.

Northern Africa

The Vandal kingdom under Thrasamund rules the old Roman province of Africa from Carthage, while Berber kingdoms hold the Atlas and the Sahara's edge, and Egypt belongs to the Eastern Roman Empire. Christian Axum dominates the Horn and the Red Sea trade, and the Nubian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia have formed on the Nile. In West Africa the kingdom of Ghana may already be taking shape, though its great trans-Saharan gold trade is not recorded until the 700s.

Europe

Germanic kingdoms have replaced Roman rule in the West: the Ostrogoths under Theodoric the Great (r. 493–526) rule Italy, the Franks under Clovis I hold northern Gaul, the Visigoths under Alaric II rule southern Gaul and Spain, and the Burgundians hold the Rhône valley. Anglo-Saxons are settling eastern Britain, where Britons may have won a victory at Badon around this time. The Eastern Roman Empire under Anastasius I (r. 491–518) holds the Balkans, though Slavs and Bulgars are starting to raid.

Middle East & South Asia

The Eastern Roman Empire holds Anatolia, Syria and Egypt, and the Sasanian Empire under Kavad I rules Mesopotamia and Iran; war between them breaks out in 502. Himyar, ruled by Jewish kings, controls Yemen. In India the Gupta Empire is breaking up under attacks by the Alchon Huns led by Toramana, while the Vakatakas rule the Deccan (where the Ajanta caves were painted in the later 5th century) and the Pallavas rule the southeast from Kanchipuram.

Northern & Central Asia

The Hephthalites, often called the White Huns, rule a large empire from Bactria to Sogdiana and even force Persia to pay tribute. The Rouran Khaganate under Nagai (r. 492–506) dominates Mongolia and the eastern steppe, with the Turks still their subjects in the Altai. Siberian peoples live by hunting, fishing and herding.

East Asia

The Northern Wei dynasty under Emperor Xuanwu (r. 499–515) rules northern China, having moved its capital to Luoyang in 494 and adopted Chinese customs; work on the Buddhist caves at Longmen has begun. The south is ruled by the Southern Qi, which will be replaced by the Liang dynasty in 502. Korea is divided among Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, and Japan's Yamato state is consolidating power over much of Honshu.

Southeast Asia

Funan, under King Jayavarman Kaundinya, still controls trade in the Mekong delta and the Gulf of Thailand, though Chenla to its north is growing. The Cham kingdom rules central Vietnam, Mon peoples are forming Dvaravati in Thailand, and Indianized kingdoms such as Tarumanagara in western Java are appearing in the islands.

Northern North America

Dorset hunters occupy the eastern Arctic, and Birnirk and related cultures live along the Alaskan coast. Subarctic hunting peoples live in the forests, and the Pacific Northwest supports complex fishing societies with chiefs and nobles.

Southern North America

Teotihuacan is in its last century of greatness before the burning of its centre around 550. The Maya Classic period is in full swing, with Tikal and the rising Kaan (Snake) dynasty, then based at Dzibanche and later at Calakmul, competing for dominance, and the Zapotecs still rule from Monte Albán. Woodland peoples farm and build mounds in the eastern forests, and Basketmaker farmers live in the Southwest.

Northern South America

The Moche are at their peak on Peru's north coast, the Nazca continue in the south, and Tiwanaku is a major power around Lake Titicaca. The Wari culture is forming in the central highlands. Many farming peoples live along the Amazon and in the Caribbean lowlands of Colombia and Venezuela.

Southern Cone

Hunter-gatherers range across the pampas and Patagonia, and fishing and sea-mammal hunting peoples live in Tierra del Fuego. Farming villages in northwest Argentina, including the Aguada culture, and in northern Chile trade with Tiwanaku.

Australasia & Oceania

Aboriginal Australians live in hundreds of societies across the continent. New Guinea farming and trading networks extend along the coasts, and Polynesians in Tonga and Samoa maintain island chiefdoms linked by canoe voyages.

Events

  1. Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus, last Western emperor
  2. Clovis defeats the last Roman ruler in Gaul at Soissons
  3. Theodoric takes Ravenna and rules Italy
  4. Northern Wei moves its capital to Luoyang
  5. Clovis converts to Catholic Christianity (c. 496)
  6. Liang dynasty founded in southern China
  7. Franks defeat the Visigoths at Vouillé

Moments of this period

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Sources